With no athletic commission in Macau, the UFC acted as its own regulatory body, overseeing referee and judging assignments, as well as drug testing. However, officials acknowledged that it didn’t follow its own protocol when UFC President Dana White relieved judge Howard Hughes of his duties after just two fights.

The UFC and White “apologize to Mr. Hughes for calling his professional judgment into question,” the statement read.

Hughes was a common denominator in a pair of oddly scored split decisions to start the event, which streamed on UFC Fight Pass from The Venetian Macao’s CotaiArena. White said he decided he was going to take a stand and instructed officials to allow Hughes to “grab some beer and some popcorn” and watch the fights instead of judging them.

Today, the company acknowledged that White and other officials shouldn’t possess “such authority.”

Here’s the full statement:

After an internal review, the UFC organization announced today that a breach of its independent regulatory protocol occurred on Saturday night during UFC FIGHT NIGHT MACAO.

After the second fight of the night, UFC President Dana White requested that Howard Hughes, one of the event’s five assigned judges, be removed from working any further bouts. Pursuant to UFC’s protocol, neither White nor any other UFC executive possesses such authority. Nevertheless, protocol was breached and Hughes did not work further bouts on Saturday night.

The UFC organization has always been in support of government regulation and oversight. Additionally, the UFC has established a protocol when required to self-regulate events due to the lack of an official athletic commission, federation or other regulatory body. In those instances where UFC holds events in locations without a regulatory body, the UFC’s protocol dictates that the organization’s internal regulators will handle all commission functions independently and without interference by company executives or employees.

The UFC remains committed to maintaining the strictest regulatory environment for competition and vows that no similar breach of protocol will happen again.

Both White and the UFC apologize to Mr. Hughes for calling his professional judgment into question. Hughes has judged more than 25 UFC fight cards and the UFC looks forward to him working on its events again in the future.

MMAjunkie’s Ben Fowlkes explained why the breach and judge dismissal was so concerning and could present future issues.

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